Thrown weapon combat
This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.201.49. If this is no longer the current patch, you can help by updating it. |
Any item in Caves of Qud can be equipped to a creature's thrown weapon equipment slot and thrown using the (T)hrow command.
Certain items are specifically designed for throwing. These thrown weapons will often have higher penetration and deal more damage or cause special effects when thrown. See the List of Thrown Weapons section below for a full list of thrown weapons.
Some items, like grenades and tonics, are designed as thrown weapons, but most of their damage is caused by scripted effects. The actual thrown combat hit itself will do little damage compared to the other effects that these items cause. Other items, such as the throwing axe or large boulder, are specifically designed to deal high damage when used in thrown weapon combat.
Overview
The following stats are relevant for thrown weapon combat:[1]
- Strength: Strength bonus affects the maximum throwing range.
- Agility: Affects aim variance (angular accuracy) of thrown weapons.
Range
Maximum throwing range involves an element of randomness, making it variable for each individual throw.
The base throwing range is 4, plus the player or creature's Strength modifier, plus a random number between 1 and 6.[1]
This maximum throwing range can be further increased by any of the following:
- Deft Throwing: Increases maximum throwing range by 3.
- parabolic muscular subroutine: Increases maximum throwing range by 2.
- Airfoil mod: Increases a specific item's throwing range by 4.
Accuracy (Aim Variance)
Distance Variance
If both of the following are true, the throw will always go the intended distance:
- The targeted location is less than or equal to the maximum throwing range as calculated above.
- The thrower has the parabolic muscular subroutine installed, or the Deft Throwing skill.
Otherwise, the throw distance will be adjusted by 1d3-2-1-1 (Avg: 0) cells. This means that, there is a 33% chance for the thrown object to stop one tile short of the target. For this reason, for players without the parabolic muscular subroutine or Deft Throwing, it is preferable to aim one cell beyond the target to improve the chance of hitting it. NPCs will not be smart enough to overcome this limitation.
Angular Variance
Angular variance is calculated by:
- Taking a random number from -10° to 10°
- Then:
- If the number is positive, the thrower's agility modifier is subtracted from the result.
- If the number is negative, the thrower's agility modifier is added to the result.
- If the number is zero, do nothing.
This article has information that is missing or not up to par.
Reason: The calculation described above is accurate as of patch 2.0.201.49, but it appears to be unintended. For example, an extremely high agility modifier, like +40, will actually make your angular variance much worse, rather than improving it. This may need to be updated if the associated bug report is addressed. |
Reason: The calculation described above is accurate as of patch 2.0.201.49, but it appears to be unintended. For example, an extremely high agility modifier, like +40, will actually make your angular variance much worse, rather than improving it. This may need to be updated if the associated bug report is addressed.
If both of the following are true, the angular variance will then be further reduced:
- The targeted location is less than or equal to the maximum throwing range as calculated above.
- The thrower has the parabolic muscular subroutine installed, or the Deft Throwing skill.
- If the thrower has a parabolic muscular subroutine installed, angular variance is set to 0° (ensuring that the throw will be 100% accurate)
- If the thrower has the Deft Throwing skill, the angular variance is divided by 2.
Hit Mechanics
Unlike melee weapon attacks and ranged weapon attacks, thrown objects cannot be dodged. The analogue to dodging in thrown weapon combat is simply the variability with regard to range and accuracy. Since most creatures do not have a method of ensuring 100% throw accuracy (such as a parabolic muscular subroutine), there is a reasonable chance for most throw attempts to miss.
Thrown Weapon Interactions with Melee Skills and Combat
If a player or creature equips a thrown weapon in a weapon hand and uses it as a melee weapon, the item will act only as a /4 1d2 cudgel weapon, and it will follow all the rules of melee weapon combat. It will not retain its original thrown weapon PV or damage.[2]
4Thrown weapons do not benefit from any of the effects of melee weapon skills. For example, the throwing axe cannot cleave or dismember targets, and will gain no benefit from other axe skills. If a thrown weapon is wielded in melee, it will benefit only from cudgel skills, as described above (this includes the throwing axe).[3][1]
Automatic Reload
After throwing an object, the game will automatically reload the thrown weapon equipment slot with another item of the same type, if one is available. For the player, this only works if you have more of the same exact item in your inventory. For NPCs that threw a grenade, the game uses more generous logic to automatically reload the thrown weapon slot with any other available grenade.[1]
List of Thrown Weapons
Miscellaneous Thrown Items
Item | PV | Damage |
---|---|---|
large boulder | 16 | 3d10+36-33 (Avg: 19.5) |
throwing axe | 13 | 2d122-24 (Avg: 13) |
medium boulder | 13 | 2d10+24-22 (Avg: 13) |
small boulder | 13 | 1d31-3 (Avg: 2) |
molting basilisk husk | 10 | 1d41-4 (Avg: 2.5) |
large stone | 10 | 1d21-2 (Avg: 1.5) |
geomagnetic disc | 5 | 2d62-12 (Avg: 7) |
small stone | 5 | 1d21-2 (Avg: 1.5) |
poison-tipped spear | 5 | 1d21-2 (Avg: 1.5) |
small wax nodule | 5 | 1d21-2 (Avg: 1.5) |
sower's seed | 5 | 11 |
cast net | 5 | 00 |
Tonics
Item | PV | Damage |
---|---|---|
blaze injector | 7 | 1 |
Eaters' nectar injector | 7 | 1 |
empty injector | 7 | 1 |
hulk honey injector | 7 | 1 |
love injector | 7 | 1 |
rubbergum injector | 7 | 1 |
salve injector | 7 | 1 |
shade oil injector | 7 | 1 |
skulk injector | 7 | 1 |
sphynx salt injector | 7 | 1 |
ubernostrum injector | 7 | 1 |
used injector | 7 | 1 |